Todd Golden critical of officiating in Florida's loss to Colorado
INDIANAPOLIS — Florida was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament after K.J. Simpson’s game-winning jumper with 1.7 seconds left, giving Colorado a 102-100 win. The final play involved a controversial no call.
Simpson appeared to push off UF point guard Zyon Pullin to create separation for the shot. It happened in front of official Bert Smith, but he didn’t blow his whistle. Florida coach Todd Golden described what he saw.
“I saw them throw it in to Simpson, and I thought ZP did an incredible job staying down and staying between him and the basket,” Golden said. “Somehow Simpson just created about seven feet of separation to get that shot off.”
Despite the refs calling seven fouls on both teams in the second half, Golden didn’t expect the last call to go Florida’s way.
“Not at all,” he said. “I just wasn’t surprised that that wasn’t called.”
Golden’s feelings likely stemmed from his back-and-forth with official Eric Curry earlier in the period. During a media timeout at the 7:44 mark, Curry called a technical foul on Golden.
The Buffs took their first double-digit lead, 82-72, with the free throws. Golden gave his perspective on what happened after a late foul call on Alex Condon: he couldn’t hear Curry’s whistle.
“Just a confusing situation. A very delayed and-one call,” Golden said. “Then explained that he tried to blow his whistle, but his whistle wasn’t working but nobody saw him call a foul until about five seconds after the play. I wasn’t very happy about it.
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“It’s never happened to me in my coaching career where somebody’s whistle doesn’t work, and then five seconds later we’re finding out that it’s an and-one. And then he asked me to get in the box, and I said I was in the box, and then he gave me a technical.”
A few possessions later, Golden and the official once again went back and forth after Curry made another call that the Florida coach couldn’t hear. Curry finally walked over to the scorer’s table and grabbed a new whistle.
“I’ve had three technicals in my coaching career,” Golden said. “He has given me two of them.”
Prior to Friday, Golden was only T’d up once this season against Ole Miss. Pullin shared his reaction to the no call on Simpson and the officiating in the second half.
“I mean, just some tough plays down the stretch,” Pullin said. “I don’t know, it happens. It’s basketball.”
